Resources

This book is designed for higher education instructors. The focus of the book is to assist all faculty instructors in higher education to better meet the needs of their student populations. It addresses the major issue of higher education teaching today: the need to reach all higher education students using active learning strategies. Higher education today is rapidly changing and faculty members are being presented with new types of students; ones who often have clear goals for bettering themselves, but at the same time lack what might have been considered to be basic skills necessary for success in a college or university setting. Instructors today must reach and bring all students into the college or university setting in an inclusive manner. The emphasis of this book is on student-focused strategies for teaching inclusively. This book will provide valuable strategies and practical techniques for instructors to develop inclusive college classrooms that promote the learning of all students. The audience targeted will be all instructors who work with higher education students, including students in community colleges and vocational institutions. The book is designed to be mainly practical instructional strategies with limited theoretical text and references. At the same time, major theories will be included to demonstrate why specific approaches are recommended. Although the authors and editors are from the field of education, the book is particularly valuable for all college instructors without a background in the discipline of education. (From the Publisher)

The purpose of this practical guide is to facilitate college students' academic success by fostering self-regulated learning skills or learning to learn through the use of Integrative Learning Technologies (ILT). It enables the college instructor, online instructor, instructional developer, or educator to envision, plan for, and implement customized instructional and curricular designs that foster learning to learn and motivate students to take ownership of their own learning. Specifically, this book demonstrates how college faculty who use Learning Management Systems (LMS) as well as emerging technologies such as Web 2.0 applications and social software can design learning tasks and course assignments that support and promote student: goal setting use of effective task strategies self-monitoring and self-evaluation time management help seeking motivation and affect Given the emphasis on retention of freshmen as a measure of institutional effectiveness, the focus on student success, and the increasing use of ILT in higher education, this book fulfills a dire need in the literature on the integration of technology and self-regulated learning. (From the Publisher)

This comprehensive, encyclopedic review explores gender and its impact on American higher education across historical and cultural contexts. Challenging recent claims that gender inequities in U.S. higher education no longer exist, the contributors—leading experts in the field—reveal the many ways in which gender is embedded in the educational practices, curriculum, institutional structures, and governance of colleges and universities. This work features the latest theories, scholarship, research, and debates related to gender and higher education, including institutional diversity; academic majors and programs; extracurricular organizations such as sororities, fraternities, and women's centers; affirmative action and other higher educational policies; and a range of theories—from liberal feminism to postmodern queer theory—that have been used to analyze and explain the ways in which gender in academe is constructed. Theoretically grounded and based on the newest research, Gender and Higher Education provides an excellent overview for students of higher education, gender studies, and sociology, as well as for anyone interested in the current state of scholarship and practice. (From the Publisher)

Online and Social Networking Communities is a professional guide written for educational practitioners and trainers who wish to use online communication tools effectively in their teaching. Focusing on the student experience of learning in online communities, it addresses ‘web 2.0’ and other ‘social software’ tools and considers the role these technologies play in supporting student learning and building learning communities. The guide offers: • real-world case studies and quality research • must-have lists of useful resources • guidance on building and supporting online learning communities • discussion of how collaborative learning can be assessed • coverage of wikis, forums, blogging, instant messaging, Second Life, Twitter, desktop videoconferencing and social networking sites such as Facebook. Online and Social Networking Communities helps educators and trainers develop a critical approach by exploring online learning from both the student’s and educator’s perspective. This practical guide provides the tools to help develop confident and thoughtful online educators, able to create successful and enjoyable learning experiences for their students. (From the Publisher)

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a pedagogical approach that has the capacity to create vibrant and active learning environments in higher education. However, both experienced PBL practitioners and those new to PBL often find themselves looking for guidance on how to engage and energise a PBL curriculum. New Approaches to Problem-based Learning: Revitalising your Practice in Higher Education provides that guidance from a range of different, complementary perspectives. Leading practitioners in the field as well as new voices in PBL teaching and learning have collaborated to produce this text. Each chapter provides practical and experienced accounts of issues and ideas for PBL, as well as a strong theoretical and evidence base. Whether you are an experienced PBL practitioner, or new to the processes and principles of PBL, this book will help you to find ways of revitalising and enriching your practice and of enhancing the learning experience in a range of higher education contexts. (From the Publisher)

Journal Issue.

This unique collection of essays, originating in seminars held at SBL’s Annual and International Meetings, explores the current ethos and discipline of graduate biblical education from different social locations and academic contexts. It includes international voices of well-established scholars who have urged change for some time alongside younger scholars with new perspectives. The individual contributions emerge from a variegated set of experiences in graduate biblical studies and a critical analysis of those experiences. The volume is divided into four areas of investigation. The first section discusses the ethos of biblical studies and social location, and the second explores different cultural-national formations of the discipline. The third section considers the experiences and visions of graduate biblical studies, while the last section explores how to transform the discipline. All the contributions offer ways to transform graduate biblical education so that it becomes a socializing power that, in turn, can transform the present academic ethos of biblical studies. (From the Publisher)

Sitting down with a young and brilliant mathematician, I asked what he thought were his biggest problems in working toward tenure. Instead of describing difficulties with his equations or his software programs, he lamented that (a) his graduate assistant wasn’t completing his tasks on time, (b) his department chair didn’t seem to care if junior faculty obtained grants, and (c) a senior professor kept glaring at him in faculty meetings. He knew he could handle the intellectual side of being an academic—but what about the people side? ‘Why didn’t they offer Promotion and Tenure Confidential provides that course in an astute and practical book, which shows that P&T is not just about research, teaching, and service but also about human relations and political good sense. Drawing on research and extensive interviews with junior and senior faculty across many institutions, David D. Perlmutter provides clear-sighted guidance on planning and managing an academic career, from graduate school to tenure and beyond. Topics include: Making the transformation from student and protégé to teacher and mentor. Seeking out and holding onto lifelong allies. How to manage your online reputation and avoid “death by Google”. What to say and what not to say to deans and department chairs. How meeting deadlines wins points with everyone in your life. How, when, and to whom to say “no”. When and how to look for a new job when you have a job. How (and whom) to ask for letters of recommendation. What to do if you know you’re not going to get tenure. (From the Publisher)

In this provocative book Warren A. Nord argues that public schools and universities leave the vast majority of students religiously illiterate. Such education is not religiously neutral, a matter of constitutional importance; indeed, it borders on secular indoctrination when measured against the requirements of a good liberal education and the demands of critical thinking. Nord also argues that religious perspectives must be included in courses that address morality and those Big Questions that a good education cannot ignore. He outlines a variety of civic reasons for studying religion, and argues that the Establishment Clause doesn't just permit, but requires, taking religion seriously. While acknowledging the difficulty of taking religion seriously in schools and universities, Nord makes a cogent case for requiring both high school and undergraduate students to take a year long course in religious studies, and for discussing religion in any course that deals with religiously controversial material. The final chapters address how religion might best be addressed in history, literature, economics, and (perhaps most controversially) science courses. He also discusses Bible courses, and the relevance of religion to moral education and ethics courses. While his position will be taken by some as radical, he argues that he is advocating a "middle way" in our culture wars. Public schools and universities can neither promote religion nor ignore it. Does God Make a Difference? increases our understanding of a long and heated cultural conflict; it also proposes a solution to the problem that is philosophically sound and, in the long run, eminently practical. (From the Publisher)

Praise for Radicalizing Learning This is a book that is so interesting that I had trouble putting it down. It is well written; there is new material; it articulates familiar concepts in such novel ways that your thought patterns get hijacked reading it. Adult learning and its processes are examined from a socialist perspective with a focus on social justice. Stephen Brookfield and John Holst have written a monumental text in the field of adult education. It is a bold, ambitious book, beautifully written and uncompromising in its social justice agenda. It is sure to become a classic in the field. This book offers new readings of the theory, politics, policy, and practice of radical adult education and learning where people's lives are understood as complex and interrelated matters. Brookfield and Holst's poetics and deeply human prose sound rebellious; the authors confront some of the main radical trends in the field of adult education including critical theory, transformative learning, and popular education. (From the Publisher)